In 2007 the mineral depletion rate to gross national income ratio of India was 0.7% which was on the higher side as compared to the global average of 0.4% but in other developing countries the ratio was much higher than of India like in China and Russia it was 1.3% and in Brazil 1.6%.
World Bank Report
Sounds familiar…
While the issues may be different, the reason is the same- ineffective city management
A successful city management system should create a strategically-oriented organization that optimizes its operations to serve the city’s residents in the most effective and efficient way possible. However, Indian ULBs are anything but effective. Even after three years Mumbai still floods every year during the monsoons, water supply in Delhi is still erratic, our biggest rivers still dirty and polluted and slum population in out metros continue to grow.
While most of the blame is partaken by ill-thought city planning and inefficient governance structure fraught with fiscal leakages, city managers cannot be completely absolved of the blame. In India, the citizens of a city do not have a direct say in the appointment of the municipal commissioner. The incentives for a municipal commissioner to align her actions with the needs and expectations of the citizens are thus, limited. This is a systemic error independent of the inherent abilities of a city manager/commissioner.
What is city management?
City management has a direct and immediate effect on the quality of life of the citizens, as it is responsible for providing safe and clean neighborhoods, ensuring public safety, maintaining infrastructure services, protecting and maintaining our scarce natural resources, and providing better health care facilities. Good governance and a robust institutional framework are the key supporting pillars for an effective city management system.
While good planning renders the basic physical structure to a city and making it more amenable to its citizens, the governance structures empower city managers to take decisions and make interventions as and when needed for proper functioning. For example, proper planning will ensure that fire brigades have adequate access to all the buildings in a city. However, in the event of a fire breakout, the authority and ability of city managers to enforce an action plan for evacuation and fire-fighting also becomes critical. Both the authority and the ability in terms of expending human and financial resources placed at the disposal of a city manager are a function of the governance prevalent in the city.
Proactive leadership, a committed administration and the citizen’s participation in the city’s management process are other factors that influence the success of a city management system. Currently citizens participate in local government through elections and other engagement processes, providing feedback about their service expectations. While elected governing bodies are effective policy orchestrators, professional city managers separate operations of the city from politics and contribute to organizational transparency.
City Management professionals manage the local government service delivery apparatus by focusing on good governance & achieving performance outcomes. Services are provided to citizens within parameters of approved budgets, legal requirements, legislative and administrative policies, industry practice, and strategic goals. The service outcomes of local government are reported to citizens who may utilize the information to evaluate the quality of services in their next local government “engagement” and/or leadership selection.
Best managed cities in the world
Good city management endeavors to provide a congenial environment to its citizens, giving them a sense of security and well-being. Tokyo, for instance, regarded as one of the best managed cities in the world with a highly efficient public transport system, low crime rate and world-class infrastructure to support business activities. Most of the European cities consistently rank high in various “Quality of life” surveys conducted across the world, as aspects such as public safety, public transportation, utility services and green initiatives are being well managed. It is needless to add that Indian cities never find a mention in the top echelons of any such rankings that are compiled on the basis of the quality of life and the status of available amenities to its citizens. You can find different ranking carried out by various agencies here (http://www.mercer.com/qualityofliving), here (http://www.eiuresources.com/mediadir/default.asp?PR=2009060801) and here (http://www.monocle.com/sections/edits/Web-Articles/Top-25-Cities/).
India is unique in its challenges
One needs to take cognizance of the fact that urban India’s huge population density poses challenges of a different scale than those seen elsewhere. Therefore, what has worked in other parts of the world may not be scaled to India’s requirements. The need of the hour is to create strong accountable systems with proper incentives in place for the city management to perform and deliver.
In the recent past, cities in India have occasionally risen up to the challenge of successfully managing various services through meticulous planning and well-coordinated execution strategies. The successful example of how the city of Allahabad managed the largest human congregation on the planet during the 2001 “Kumbh Mela”, a religious gathering that takes place once in 12 years, is a case in point. It shows us that irrespective of population and scale, models do exist that can be successfully executed.
The real challenge is to ensure the nation-wide adoption of best practices learnt from such exercises.